Not Sweating the Small Stuff

Adam Raphael, Photographer - A Reprise

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I posted on Adam Raphael on 9th November 2006 - and, a short time after and quite unexpectedly, a copy of 'XY Foto' (Issue 4/Winter 2005) appeared on my door stop. Featuring his work.

The compositions are quite formal, restrained and classic in feeling. It's in the disposition of all the elements and the often reduction of the background to something minimal and subdued - non-intrusive to maintain the focus on the usually single figure. A classicism which is all somewhat paradoxical given the real (sensual) subject matter. It's as though I was observing images from a mainstream commercial photo shoot, only the guy/s had forgotten to put their clothes on.

For example, this guy in white jocks could be setting out for an important meeting at work, except that he's probably not adhering to the dress code, and can't place his briefcase.

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While this guy below seems to be considering what might be put into the up-coming chapter of his PhD, if only he could get his mind off his new purple tank top and repress the urge to flash his super erotic trail. No judgment here, of course.

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Most of the guys in this selection of Adam's work could be singer-dancer-waiter-models. Who, when they step out of frame, you well know will remain models. Even in bed, wearing their ankles as earrings.

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Others, more intriguingly, could be quite other - their model image in part achieved by the photographer. For example, this be-toweled shower dweller ...

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... and the guy propped up in bed and draped in voluminous white sheets ...

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... and finally this boy-next-door type.

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I particularly like these two a bit less-than-obviously manicured long-haired blokes in their respective beds.

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My valuing of Adam Raphael's work has drifted from something more aesthetic and technical to something more visceral.

In particular, it could be said I appreciate it because of the non-representatively high percentage of 'cute hairy blond guys'.

But this would be unfair to 'the organ between his ears' - which created these beautiful images!